Manatee drops bid to tie nonprofit funding to immigration checks amid pushback

A proposal that would have required nonprofits receiving Manatee County funding to verify they are not serving undocumented immigrants was withdrawn Tuesday after drawing widespread public opposition and little support from commissioners. 

Commissioner Amanda Ballard, who proposed the measure, pulled the item from the agenda after a lengthy and, at times, tense discussion among commissioners, followed by public comment in which most speakers opposed the move. She said she wanted more time to work with nonprofit leaders and community stakeholders.

“I do think it’s an important issue, and I believe very strongly that there is absolutely a place for nonprofits to provide funds to anyone and everyone that needs help in the county,” Ballard said. “I don’t think that it’s an appropriate use of taxpayer funds to provide those services to people who are not in the country legally.”

Ballard said the county needed to bring its grantmaking into compliance with a federal law that restricts certain public benefits for people living in the country without legal authorization. It also would have established a procedure for the county to determine compliance.

At least 86 organizations receive more than $26 million annually from Manatee County Government to support programs such as early childhood development, college readiness, shelters, dental care, sexual assault advocacy and addiction recovery. Exempt from the federal restriction are programs that provide immunizations, emergency health care, short-term disaster relief and similar services.

Ballard acknowledged she had no idea how much, if any, of the county’s support helps people living in the country without proper authorization. But she pointed to potential examples, like if Legal Aid of Manasota assisted people trying to avoid deportation or if Turning Points provided non-emergency dental care.  

Commissioner Jason Bearden was the only other commissioner to voice support for the measure, saying the county has a right to know how much taxpayer money is “spent on illegal aliens.” 

But other commissioners made clear the proposal would not have the votes to pass, questioning whether the county has the authority to enforce a federal law and raising concerns about the resources it would take to do so — as well as the burden it would place on nonprofits to verify clients’ eligibility.

“If the nonprofits are violating federal or state law, it’s not our job to oversee it,” said Commissioner George Kruse. “Why are we inserting ourselves? Why are we all of a sudden the police on federal or state policy?”

Kruse, along with fellow commissioners Bob McCann and Tal Siddique, spoke in opposition to the measure.

“I would rather not see this come back,” Siddique said “I just don’t think that there’s a real, meaningful solution here to be had unless there’s change at the federal level or case law, because there’s a very narrow slice of what we could accomplish.”  

Nonprofit, residents push back on proposal

Eighteen people lined up to speak during public comment — most of them nonprofit leaders, along with a handful of residents. Only one person supported the measure; others opposed it or sought clarification. 

Many warned the proposal would be difficult to implement and could force organizations to limit or deny services if they risk losing county funding.

“I would like to respectfully ask, do we really need to do this?” said Katie Becker, executive director of Parenting Matters, which provides parenting education and support to families in Sarasota and Manatee counties. 

Becker said her organization provides services in multiple settings, including libraries, making it nearly impossible to prescreen families for their legal status. If the measure passed, she said, Parenting Matters risked losing $90,000 in funding. 

“This is not about compliance, this is a policy choice,” she said. “We should be cautious about making our county a test case when the stakes are so high.” 

Kelly Kirschner, chair of UnidosNow, which works to improve the quality of life for Latinos in the region, warned commissioners about the type of overreach the proposed policy could lead to and said it would create a “patchwork” system of enforcement.  

“(The policy) attempts to deputize nonprofits — organizations providing child care, tutoring and college prep, addiction recovery, domestic violence services, among many others — into acting now as immigration screeners without legal standards, without training and without protection,” Kirschner said. “That is not compliance, that is liability you are now shifting onto your local nonprofits.”

Kirschner, like many other nonprofit leaders, said the policy would increase administrative costs for nonprofits, delay services and could discourage families from applying to receive help. 

That delay in services is what worried some nonprofits the most. Kathleen Cramer, executive director of Turning Points, which provides assistance to people at risk of or experiencing homelessness, said she can guarantee that none of the funds her nonprofit receives from Manatee County helps undocumented immigrants. 

Turning Points helps 10,000 people annually, Cramer said, and needing to check citizenship status of every person before offering help would be time-consuming for its staff. 

“So if you’re going to have us have to look into their status and verify status for 10,000 people, the burden will be overwhelming,” Cramer said. “It will slow down the process for everyone, and so we will not be able to serve as many clients as we would, because we’re going to have our staff looking into ensuring people’s status.”

Ballard withdraws proposal after failing to gain support

After hearing from nonprofit leaders and community members, Ballard thanked all stakeholders for voicing their concerns and said she would withdraw the item until she could have more conversations with local nonprofits. 

She is scheduled to meet with nonprofit leaders Friday to discuss their concerns about the proposal — a meeting that had already been arranged by Manatee Community Foundation president and CEO Veronica Thames, who also spoke at the meeting.

“I want to do this in a way, if it does move forward, that I’m not putting people in a situation where they feel scared or uncomfortable,” Ballard said. “I want to work collaboratively with nonprofits and figure out a way that this can be done, so that it’s not an immense burden, and that we can use taxpayer dollars responsibly and be fiscally responsible without making nonprofits feel that they can’t complete their core mission.”

While Bearden said he continued to support Ballard’s idea and Commissioner Mike Rahn remained silent during final deliberations, the other commissioners said they would not support the measure if it returned. 

McCann and Kruse noted that, if the county enacted the provision, it would require additional staff time to audit nonprofits who they suspect are breaking the protocol. 

“We would be spending taxpayer money on butting in to just make (nonprofits) conform,” McCann said. “So, you know, again, I would be against this, and I hope it would not come back again.”

This story is a collaboration between the Bradenton Herald and Suncoast Searchlight, a nonprofit newsroom of the Community News Collaborative serving Sarasota, Manatee and DeSoto counties. Learn more at suncoastsearchlight.org.